“I feel he realized that what Massive Tech corporations spent many years involved about, which is basically how you can reasonable or how you can arrange speech on this loopy scale, is that is not an issue,” says Magalhaes. “That is a chance for him.”

For the reason that election, Musk has not light into the shadows, content material with backroom conferences and covert affect. As a substitute, he has joined calls with overseas leaders, weighed in on staffing picks for the brand new administration, and threatened to make use of the America PAC to fund major challenges towards lawmakers who don’t help Trump’s (and his) agenda.

In November, Trump introduced that Musk would co-lead a brand new federal advisory committee referred to as the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE, just like the memecoin), accountable for slicing $2 trillion from the federal price range. (Eliminating all discretionary federal spending, together with on protection, wouldn’t obtain this goal.) The committee doesn’t but exist, however already Musk has used his presence on X and this new government-adjacent, if nebulous, place to dictate coverage. Maybe not coincidentally, on paper, his estimated wealth reportedly elevated by about $170 billion following the election.

“He is parlayed [his ownership of X] right into a governmental place the place his capability to affect coverage that impacts all of his enterprise pursuits is simply large. And that might pay big monetary dividends,” says Phil Napoli, a professor of public coverage at Duke College. “I feel that may be the scariest factor that might occur, is that if loads of these platforms take that sign from Musk.”

The early returns recommend that different tech leaders are more likely to comply with swimsuit. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos have visited Mar-a-Lago to kiss the ring. Meta officers say Zuckerberg desires to take an “lively position” in serving to form the Trump administration’s tech insurance policies.

“Each time there is a new authorities, huge capitalism, huge cash, tries to place themselves ready to profit from it. And I feel that is what they’re doing,” says Magalhaes. And Musk’s use of X for explicitly political functions might induce the Trump administration to anticipate comparable behaviors from different corporations, he says. “I feel in that sense it’s a blueprint.”

Musk’s ambitions are clearly not restricted to the US. For the reason that election, he has visited the UK to fulfill with far-right politicians there, and posted about his help for the far-right Germany occasion, Various for Germany (AfD). Earlier this yr, he tried to defy a court docket order in Brazil that required X to take away sure far-right accounts that the court docket mentioned had been undermining the integrity of the nation’s elections.

All of which means Musk’s management over politics isn’t only a matter of his closeness to Trump. Even ought to the 2 titanic egos have a much-predicted blow-up, Musk’s affect will likely be felt within the new coziness between Silicon Valley and the MAGA motion, and in no matter components of the world on which he chooses to solid an eye fixed.

In a manner, it’s a return to acquainted floor. Even earlier than shopping for Twitter in 2022, Musk was an excellent consumer, one of many platform’s most adopted individuals. His Tweets might have an effect on inventory costs for his different corporations, notably Tesla, and his favored memecoin, Dogecoin. Trump, equally, was an lively Twitter consumer earlier than changing into president, and through his first presidency, he was infamous for making coverage by tweet. It now seems that the following 4 years, a minimum of, might see extra governance by social media publish—now simply by a unique shitposter.